Not much is expected from this Cardinals edition. Residing in a division that returns three playoff teams — including two that sit first and second in many NFL August power rankings — Arizona appears in a transition year as Jacoby Brissett holds the wheel while 2027 quarterback prospects will be evaluated.
The Cardinals carried a prime asset entering the 2026 draft, though, and ended up with Jeremiyah Love — a player who will assuredly boost Brissett this season and his potential successor next year. Love’s arrival gave the Cardinals a curiously crowded backfield — on paper, at least. In reality, the deep group is not close to full strength exiting the team’s second preseason game.
Love suffered an ankle injury in the Cardinals’ second preseason game, and Mike LaFleur indicated the No. 3 overall pick will miss at least a week. It is too early to be overly concerned about Love’s status for Arizona’s opener, but the team’s deep backfield has not yet fully shown itself thanks to two other injury issues. Most notably, James Conner has not yet resumed 11-on-11 work. LaFleur said (via AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban) no timetable exists for the 10th-year veteran to return to full practice participation.
Conner did not start training camp on the Cardinals’ active/PUP list, but he is finishing a long recovery process. An ankle injury sustained in Week 3 last season sidelined Conner, and the injury preceded a pay-cut request — which the former 1,000-yard rusher accepted. Conner had signed a two-year, $19MM extension in 2024 but has seen his 2026 compensation reduced to $3MM. Now 31, Conner saw his Arizona status significantly altered when the team signed Tyler Allgeier (two years, $12MM) before drafting Love.
This will be Conner’s sixth season with the Cardinals. His two 1,000-yard rushing seasons came in 2023 and ’24, and he scored 18 touchdowns in his first Arizona campaign. Conner’s role figures to be diminished once he returns to full strength, and Allgeier has once again seen a team draft a top-10 running back early in his tenure (the Falcons chose Bijan Robinson eighth overall after Allgeier’s 1,000-yard rookie season).
With Conner not on the PUP list, he is heading toward the team’s 53-man roster. Barring an IR move to start the season or an unlikely release — though, Conner’s $2.1MM guarantee would not exactly wound the rebuilding team much if it turned into dead money — Conner will join Love and Allgeier on Arizona’s active roster later this month. The player who has been Conner’s primary backup over the past two seasons, Trey Benson, may not.
The Cardinals drafted Benson in the 2024 third round, but after a 13-game rookie season behind Conner, the Florida State product missed 13 games last season. After a skeleton-crew backfield formed in Jonathan Gannon‘s third and final season as Cardinals HC, the franchise was aggressive in addressing the issue. As a result of the Love and Allgeier additions, the Arizona Republic’s Theo Mackie notes Benson is likely in an uphill battle to make the team.
Complicating matters further for Benson, he has missed two weeks of practice and both Arizona’s preseason tilts thus far. The knee injury that cost Benson most of his 2025 season flared up recently, leading to this shutdown. The Cardinals have Bam Knight rostered as a depth option. Benson not making the Cards’ roster would subject him to waivers, as he has only two years of service time.